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Plastiq is a useful tool for paying bills with credit cards. They do charge a 2.5% fee, but it can be worth paying that, especially if you need to complete minimum spend for a new credit card signup bonus. See: Complete guide to Plastiq credit card payments.
Things get tricky when you want to make a payment with an American Express card. Currently, Amex only allows the following types of payments to be made through Plastiq:
For Recipients in the United States, the use of American Express cards is permitted for the following industries:
- Government
- Utilities
- Education
- Residential Rent
- Club Fees and Memberships
For Recipients in Canada, the use of American Express cards is permitted for the following industries:
- Government
- Utilities
- School
- School K-12
- Residential Rent
Sometimes you may try to pay a bill that fits into the above categories, but still get the dreaded message “American Express cards cannot be used to pay this recipient.” This has happened to me three times.
The Fix
UPDATE March 2019: Plastiq no longer allows you to edit recipients online. It is necessary instead to contact Plastiq support to change the recipient’s business category.
Your first step should be to check that you categorized the recipient correctly. Go to “Manage Recipients,” then “Edit Recipient.” Check that the Business Category is one of these: Clubs, Education, Government, Rent/Real Estate, Utilities. Edit the assigned category if necessary. Then try again to make your payment.
If fixing the category doesn’t help, simply contact Plastiq support. Often they have a pop-up box offering to chat online. Each time I’ve had this issue, I’ve clicked to chat and described the problem. They fixed the issue within 24 hours each time.
Referral Program
If you are new to Plastiq and you sign up through a friend-referral, you’ll earn 500 Fee-Free dollars (FFDs) once you’ve paid $500 worth of bills with Plastiq. FFDs are used to make payments without fees. 500 Fee-Free dollars means that you can pay $500 worth of bills for free (so 500 FFDs are worth 2.5% of $500 = $12.50).
The deal gets even better when you refer friends. For every person who registers with Plastiq via your referral link, you’ll get 1000 FFDs (worth $25) and that person will get 500 FFDs once they’ve paid $500 worth of bills with Plastiq.
If you’re new to Plastiq, consider using my referral link with my thanks: plastiq.com/frequentmiler
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Doesn’t work any more for AMEX payments. 🙁 Got the same error message, but my recipient IS already listed as a landlord, AND there’s no NO option to EDIT RECIPIENTS. Under manage it just SHOWS you the recipient info, and you can DELETE it, but not edit. I ALSO had to upload my lease and everything just to SEND the payment, AND get the landlord’s approval (though I’ve used it in the past to send $$ to the same landlord). TOTAL hassle and not worth it. Bummer. It’s the weekend and chat support is only available Mon-Fri! Please update the article to reflect that AMEX can no longer be used. Was totally trying to make that minimum spend, but Plastiq has gone way downhill since this was written. 🙁 🙁
Thanks for letting us know. I’ve updated the post to say that you can no longer edit the recipient. It should still be possible to get this fixed through Plastiq support, but I do understand that their hours can be an issue.
worked perfectly. Thank You.
Greg, I went through you Plastiq link, but did not see a credit for first time user. A $1200 rent payment came up as a $30 charge (2.5%)?
The offer is to get $500 FFDs after you make your first $500 bill payment. It’s probably too late to do this, but if you could split your rent payment and do $500 now, you should be able to get $500 of the remainder fee free.
Alternatively, if you have a Mastercard, you can take advantage of the Masterpass offer: https://frequentmiler.com/2018/05/28/plastiq-fee-free-mastercard-promo-changing-this-week/
Does this still work to meet minimum spend with Amex with the RAT team in place now?
Plastiq payments should be safe — I haven’t heard any reports to the contrary. Just keep in mind that paying with an Amex is limited to the categories in the post.
Does it work with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage?
Yes you can use Plastiq to pay your Wells Fargo mortgage, but only Mastercard and Discover are supported for mortgage payments. See our complete guide for details about what works and what doesn’t: https://frequentmiler.com/complete-guide-to-plastiq-credit-card-payments/
I just used your referral link last night! I’m a long time reader of FM, but first time user of Plastiq. Never really had the need but now that we’re a home renovation, we need to send a bunch of checks to contractors and do not want to lose out on point-earning opportunities.
Exactly who were you trying to pay? Didn’t it fall under any of the categories?
It happened to me the other day trying to pay my state taxes. It did in fact show up as Government, but it gave me the same error pictured in the post.
Thx. Got it. Definitely an IT glitch.